Ship sinks off Yemen killing 12 Indian crew

ADEN: A cargo ship sank off the coast of Yemen killing all 12 Indian crew, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.

The ship, which was carrying car tyres and car parts, ran aground on Thursday night but the incident did not come to the attention of Yemeni security until 10 hours later, its statement said.

Heavy winds and high waves prevented the rescue of the Indian sailors.

The ship was owned by a Yemeni and was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Al Mukalla port in Yemen.

It sank off the coast of Al Shehar town in Yemen’s southeastern Hadramout province, the ministry said.

Ansar Beit Maqdis claims rocket fire on Israel’s Eilat

CAIRO: An Egyptian jihadist group said yesterday that it fired a rocket at the Red Sea resort of Eilat which was intercepted by Israeli air defences, its second in a fortnight.

Al Qaeda inspired Ansar Beit Al Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), which is based just across the border from Israel in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, threatened to follow Friday’s foiled rocket fire with further attacks. “God helped your brothers in Ansar Beit Al Maqdis to succeed and target the Israeli city of Eilat,” the group said in a statement posted on jihadist forums.

“Jews, you have to know that nothing will stop us from fighting you, even if the entire world’s armies move on your instructions. If they create a barrier between us and you, with God’s help and strength, we will get you and kill you.” The rocket fired on Friday was destroyed by an Iron Dome air defence battery deployed outside Eilat, an Israeli police spokeswoman said.

On January 20, another rocket claimed by the jihadist group struck the outskirts of the Israeli resort city without causing any casualties.AFP